DNA Methylation and its Significance in Cancer

DNA methylation is a well-balanced process in healthy cells. But in some diseases, cancers in particular, aberrant CpG methylation changes may occur, and both genomewide hypomethylation and gene-specific hypermethylation in promoters of tumor suppressor genes can be observed.

Many studies have shown that tumor emergence and growth are associated with changes in DNA methylation patterns, such as in the case of prostate cancer development. Therefore, one of the most important application areas for epigenetic research is the diagnosis and treatment of cancer — using DNA methylation patterns to detect cancer at very early stages, to classify tumors, and to predict and monitor response to drug treatments.

For high-throughput discovery of variations in DNA methylation, hybridization arrays are employed. However, the results must be experimentally verified to confirm that the correct variations are identified. Quantifying DNA methylation is simplified with QIAGEN's predesigned PyroMark CpG Assays, which can be used to validate results from HumanMethylation450K BeadChip experiments. These new predesigned assays for methylation array validation offer a convenient way to verify experimental results, and determine exact methylation levels of CpG sites of interest, without having to design a separate assay for each individual target of interest.